by WebPost | Apr 21, 2017 | Peace and Social Concerns
From the Baltimore Yearly Meeting Working Group on Racism:
In his recent (2016) book, Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man’s Education, writer Mychal Denzel Smith includes a chapter about his personal struggles with depression. He goes deeply into how difficult it is for black men, whose persona is generally supposed to be macho, to acknowledge mental health problems and any need for – or access to — mental health treatment.
“What would happen if we reframed the way we understand black male life in a way that took mental health seriously? If we looked outside and didn’t see ruthless gangbangers but teenage boys left hopeless and giving themselves suicide missions. If instead of chastising young men for fighting over sneakers we asked why they feel worthless and unseen without them. If we didn’t label them junkies but rather recognized their need for affirmation. If we held our boys close when they cried instead of turning them away to face the frustration, pain, and sadness ‘like a man.’ If we believed black boys were worthy of second chances that didn’t involve prison cells. What if?”
by WebPost | Apr 21, 2017 | Peace and Social Concerns
Registration is now open for the Richmond Youth Peace Summit, Saturday, April 29, 2017. This program, sponsored annually by the Richmond Peace Education Center, will be held at St. Paul’s Baptist Church, Southside campus, 700 E. Belt Blvd. Richmond, VA 23224, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event is open to young people from throughout central Virginia, ages 12-19, free of charge. Lunch is provided.
Participants learn leadership and conflict resolution skills, ways to work for social justice and have fun through music, dance, and yoga! The Summit will also feature a panel discussion with stories from immigrant youth.
Morning and afternoon workshops offer a variety of topics including:
- • Building Healthy Relationships
- • Anger Management
- • Preventing Human Trafficking
- • Indonesian and Latino cooking and culture
- • Capoeira
- • Drumming
- • Yoga
- • Cross-Cultural Understanding
- • and much, much more!
The Summit also includes a midday performance by talented local musicians, dancers and poets. And participants can earn credit for six community service hours.
Teens can register online at www.rpec.org/summit or by emailing rypp@rpec.org. Registration in advance is required. Groups are welcome!
The Youth Peace Summit is organized by the Richmond Peace Education Center. The Summit is part of the Richmond Youth Peace Project program for teenagers, a Peace Center collaboration with Drums No Guns. Through the Richmond Youth Peace Project, we empower teenagers to be leaders for nonviolence and community change. For more information: rypp@rpec.org or 804-232-1002.
by WebPost | Apr 21, 2017 | Peace and Social Concerns, Topics
The Richmond Peace Education Center is looking for a skilled volunteer for a bookkeeping position that is essential to the work and functioning of all of the Peace Center’s activities.
For more information, send email to rpec@rpec.org.
To learn about RPEC, visit rpec.org.
by WebPost | Apr 15, 2017 | Adult Spiritual Education, Peace and Social Concerns
Sponsored by the Peace and Social Concerns and Adult Spiritual Education Committees of the Richmond Friends Meeting (Quakers)
WHEN: Sunday, April 30th, 12:30 PM
WHERE: Richmond Friends Meeting, Community Room 4500 Kensington Avenue, Richmond (Please park on Commonwealth Avenue)
FORUM PARTICIPANTS:
1) Linda Rabben, PhD.., author, and anthropologist who has written several books including Give Refuge to the Stranger: the Past, Present and Future of Sanctuary” and Sanctuary and Asylum.; attender at Adelphi Friends Meeting.
2) Lana Heath de Martinez, (M. Div, Union Theological Seminary), “Welcoming All Coordinator” from Virginia Interfaith Center (VICPP), Legislative Coordinator for Virginia Coalition of Latin American Organizations (Vacolao) during 2017 General Assembly. Lana is supporting/facilitating efforts of the VICPP Circles of Protection Sanctuary Network – Central Virginia.
3) Jennifer L. West, J.D., from UNC School of Law, Immigration & Nationality Attorney at Law Offices of Hyder and Overas, Richmond, Va, since 2002, member American Immigration Lawyers Association.
This forum will focus on:
**a history of the Sanctuary movement, specifically sanctuary provided by congregations and individuals, including the more recent Sanctuary movement of the past decade;
**information about ICE detentions in the Richmond area in recent years and under the current administration; Circles of Protection Sanctuary Network (VICPP)
**support and care for the vulnerable, undocumented, immigrants who have been detained or deported and their families; Power-of-Attorney clinics;
**and the legal aspects of providing Sanctuary as a congregation and/or an individual Faith communities have been mobilizing around the Sanctuary Movement and have been considering how best to protect, care for, and be allies with the undocumented, detained immigrants, and the families and loved ones of those deported.
Additional information: contact Sally Gudas at seatide1@gmail.com, (804)399-8342.
Finger foods, snacks, and drinks will be provided.
by WebPost | Mar 27, 2017 | Adult Spiritual Education, Peace and Social Concerns
The RFM Peace and Social Concerns Committee is aware that the current U.S. administration is going forward with plans to increase the number of deportations of the undocumented and expand the scope of these deportations. Our Quaker testimonies of equality, community, and integrity cause us to hold in the Light the impact on the undocumented immigrant community of an unjust immigration system that harms people’s human and civil rights and tears families apart, and children from parents.
At our March P&SC Meeting, we had a brief presentation on the topic of Sanctuary by Lana Heath de Martinez, staff member of the Virginia Interfaith Center (VICPP). Lana is supporting/facilitating efforts of congregations throughout the State of Virginia as they learn about how to provide Sanctuary to these undocumented immigrants facing deportation.
To further educate ourselves and the Meeting about the needs of the immigrant community and all the aspects of Sanctuary, the Peace & Social Concerns Committee is co-sponsoring with Adult Spiritual Education an Educational Forum about Sanctuary to be held April 30th, at the Rise of Meeting in the community room. Light finger food, snacks, and drinks will be provided. We have invited the following participants to date:
- 1) Linda Rabben, PhD., attender at Adelphi Friends Meeting , author, and anthropologist who has written several books including “Give Refuge to the Stranger: the Past, Present and Future of Sanctuary” and “Sanctuary and Asylum”. Dr. Rabben conducts presentations about Sanctuary.
- 2) Lana Heath de Martinez, (M. Div, Union Theological Seminary) and Welcoming All Coordinator from Virginia Interfaith Center (VICPP)
- 3) Immigration Attorney (name not yet confirmed).
Sanctuary – brief history:
The practice of Sanctuary has a long history as a tradition of religious communities during situations of human despair. From the ancient Hebrew communities, the Christian churches of the late Roman Empire, to the church of England in the late medieval period, churches provided refuge to those fleeing governmental punishments for a variety of reasons. In the US, the first time that a practice surfaced similar to sanctuary was the Underground Railroad that developed to help slaves flee their masters in the South and find safety in homes and congregations far away.
In the early 1970s, again church communities provided sanctuary within their churches to conscientious objectors who had been drafted to the War in Vietnam.
In the 1980s, refugees fled from Civil Wars in Central America to the US, but the US did not recognize them as political refugees seeking asylum. The Sanctuary Movement protected some of these refugees while protesting this practice with the US government; at the time, the US was directly supporting the Central American dictators and death squads. The Sanctuary Movement’s efforts at the time resulted in including Central Americans in US asylum laws in the 1986 immigration reform law.
Neighborhood raids by Immigration enforcement in the US escalated beginning in 2006 and the New Sanctuary Movement evolved from coalitions of congregations in major cities throughout the US.
The Sanctuary Movement Today
Under the Obama Administration rising rates of deportation continued and congregations recommitted themselves to Sanctuary.
Before the November 2016 presidential election there were approximately 400 congregations engaged in the work of sanctuary across the nation — since the election that number has doubled as communities of faith across the nation, due to concerns that the number and scope of deportations is being greatly expanded.
by WebPost | Mar 2, 2017 | Peace and Social Concerns
From the Peace and Social Concerns Committee and Denna Joy:
Peace and Social Concerns Committee would like collect supplies in March in support of the students at Armstrong High School. I have been part of the support staff there for a number of years. Armstrong is a Richmond Public School High School located in the city’s east end. It has a proud history. It was founded in the 1870s as the Richmond Colored Normal School and became the first public school in Richmond for African American students. The school was named for Union General Armstrong, a white commander of colored troops during the Civil War who founded Hampton Institute, a historically black college. Alumni speak with pride of the strong school spirit of Armstrong students.
Today, Armstrong High School is on its fourth location. It sits on the edge of Fairfield Court, on the border of Henrico County. The Armstrong zone includes students who come from all four subsidized housing communities in the east end. Many face the trauma of living daily in dangerous, high crime neighborhoods. They struggle with poverty, stresses at home and a community in need of more resources. As a result, many of our students are often chronically late and find remaining in school and graduating on time very difficult. Included in our population are students classified as homeless; they have no permanent residence. Many are doubled up with friends or relatives or living in motels. On paper, the number of reported homeless students is close to 45. However, staff feels that number is probably much higher. Particularly hard to serve are our over eighteen homeless students who are” couch surfing”- staying where ever they can. The resilience and persistence our students demonstrate is humbling. We have a food and clothes pantry designed to serve these students. They are often in need of food when they come into school in the morning or something to take home with them for the evening. While all RPS students receive free breakfast, many of our students are just not in the building at 7:30 when breakfast is served. So we are asking folks to contribute food items to the pantry. Additional supplies such as deodorant, laundry detergent and feminine hygiene products are usually in short supply.
Also in the building is a child care center for infants and toddlers of parents attending Armstrong. This support allows young parents to have a safe space for their children to be while they attend school. Parents are asked to bring supplies such as diapers, baby swipes and Vaseline to school. But like deodorant and feminine products, these items cannot be bought with food stamps.
PSC will be collecting:
Breakfast foods– Pop tarts, soft granola bars, packets of cold cereal
Hygiene products– male and female deodorant- both solid and spray, sanitary napkins
Baby products– diapers sizes 4, 5, 6, Vaseline, diaper swipes.
Laundry supplies– boxes containing liquid pods or packs for easy transport
